


You're Gonna Go Far, Kid

by PanBoleyn



Series: Maybe I Need To See The Daylight [2]
Category: Suits (TV)
Genre: Gen, Multi, hinted Donna/Harvey/Mike, past Rachel/Mike
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-23
Updated: 2013-05-23
Packaged: 2017-12-12 17:04:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/813935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PanBoleyn/pseuds/PanBoleyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So, Harvard doesn't want her? Well, Rachel Zane's not about to just give up. After the firm is caught up in the merger mess, she has choices to make and answers to seek. And then, well, she has a dream to pursue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You're Gonna Go Far, Kid

**Author's Note:**

> Rachel was... not supposed to be in this, but she insisted. Donna's next, then Harvey. Hopefully, my 'verse won't hurt half as much as the rumors suggest the canon season 3 will.
> 
> Also, Kathryn Fisch. Gabriel Macht said in his latest interview that Michelle Fairley will be joining the cast as part of the 'British Invasion', but we know nothing of her character. So I, ah, took the liberty of inventing her, with a name that is a nod to her Game of Thrones character, Catelyn Tully Stark. (Who she seems to understand far better than the show writers, thus it seemed fitting.)

This is what Rachel knows, the Monday after the merger goes through. Jessica and Harvey are on the outs in a way never before seen. Mike is gone, with only a cryptic text about power games as an explanation for him quitting. Donna looks like she wants to throttle someone.

 

There's a rumor that whatever ended up happening with the wager between Harvey and Darby, it involved Jessica turning Mike against Harvey. Which Rachel can't even comprehend. How could even Jessica pull that off? No one seems to know that, of course. And Mike's not answering her texts.

It's almost enough to distract Rachel from her own problems. Almost. But the fact is, the tension at the newly-dubbed Pearson-Darby only makes her want to be at Harvard all the more. Harvard, or...

 

She didn't let herself consider that she might not get in before. Now that it's happened, though... She sends in more applications, because to hell with them. If Harvard doesn't want her, she'll be a leading light of some other school. If she can't come back here to work, well... With all the drama lately, that doesn't seem as bad as it has in the past. It feels like, maybe there would be worse fates.

 

So she fills out more applications to schools just as good as Harvard, and when she's done with everything but the letters of recommendation, she goes to Louis' office. Louis, weirdly enough, seems to be the only one everyone's talking to right now. By 'everyone', she means Jessica's camp and Harvey's. (Yes, Harvey did have his supporters, just not anyone up to risking their necks to help him.)

 

"I don't really have time for whoever-" Louis begins without looking up from his papers.

 

"Did you mean it when you said you'd write me a recommendation?" Rachel asks, closing the door behind her. Louis looks up.

 

"I most certainly did," he says. "Where are you applying? Tell me it's not Yale, those arrogant bastards." 

 

"Sorry, but I'm applying there. And Stanford, and Columbia, and a couple of other places. Harvard said no, but I'm sure they won't all say no. Especially not with the letter you said you'd write."

 

"Oh, I'll write you that letter. And in a year, I'll write you a better one. Harvard said no this year, but in a year, with a year kicking ass for someone else under your belt?"

Rachel hadn't actually considered transferring, but if it can work, it's not a bad plan. Still, she's not going to get ahead of herself. Not again. "I need to get accepted and finish a year first, Louis."

 

"And there's no doubt you will," Louis tells her. "I'll have that letter for you by the end of the day, and another one next year. You'll make it to Harvard, Rachel. And then you'll be back here, right?"

 

"As long as it's less crazy than right now, yeah."

 

~ ~ ~

 

She finally hears from Mike about two months after she came in on Monday to find he'd apparently turned on Harvey, then quit. Well, he'd texted her a few days after leaving, something about quitting over power games, and a few more times after that. Just enough to keep in touch, and for her to know he's not working in law anymore. But they meet for coffee on a Saturday morning, at a place in the East Village. Mike's just moved into a loft there, and Rachel figures she can poke around the shops a bit after breakfast.

 

"So, you're working at a publishing house now? How's that going for you? And how'd you get the job?"

 

"Met a guy in a bar, if you can believe it. And it's going pretty well, actually. I'm doing copy editing, mostly - same thing as proofing briefs only easier. But, uh, my memory - they've got me doing various other things because of it. Officially, though, it's copy work. Doesn't pay as well, but good enough. Especially since my lease ran out. How 'bout you?"

 

Rachel knows her grin is blinding. "I got into Stanford. With a partial scholarship, no less. I'm off to California in three months. And I'm going to try for Harvard again in a year, but..." Her throat tightens for a moment; dreams die hard, and she's wanted Harvard all her life. Or it feels like that, anyway. "Either way, in three years I'll be a

lawyer, and that's the important part."

 

Mike smiles, but he's looking carefully at her. "Rach, I... I'm sorry I couldn't help you."

 

"Yeah, and why is that? Look, I get that it wasn't actually because of Louis she turned me down, but why not write that letter for me?" She has to know. Whatever his reasons, she has to.

 

"I... It's not just my secret, Rachel."

 

"What does it matter? You moved on."

 

She can't read the look on his face, but he nods. "I guess you're right. But - if it gets out, it could still... You can't tell anyone, OK?"

 

"I won't. Just tell me."

 

What he tells her - about gatecrashing Harvey's interviews, the crazy scheme behind his being hired without any kind of degree, Jessica finding out and eventually using it to make Mike turn on Harvey... It's crazy, and yet it makes so many little things make sense. "So you did all this, and only Harvey, Donna, and Jessica ever knew?"

 

"That about covers it." He looks down. "Speaking of... Donna and Harvey, how - how are they? Far as you can tell, I mean. You and Donna are still friends, right?"

 

They are, but... The way he asks is weird somehow. "Donna's all right. She seems like something's bothering her, but she won't tell me anything. Harvey... I don't talk to him, but anyone can see he's volatile. I think he'd leave except for the non-compete he's under." Rachel eyes Mike, wondering at the too-blank look on his face, like he's trying not to show anything. "I think the two of them might be... I mean, it's been there all along." She dares to add it. "You'd never get anywhere even without... I mean, they're not a pair you could separate."

 

"Who said anything about splitting them up?"

 

He can't mean... "Wait. Was there anything going on, with all three of you? Or did you want there to be?"

 

Mike shrugs. "We didn't label it or anything. It's over now anyway."

 

Rachel takes a long drink of her coffee. "Wow. Full of surprises today, aren't you?"

 

"Rachel-"

 

She holds up a hand. "No, it's fine. Really. Is this why you wanted to just be friends, though?"

 

"No, not really. Mostly it was, we hurt each other whenever we tried to be more. Not to make things more tense, but... Jenny was a good friend, and I lost her because our chance came too late. I didn't want to lose you that way. We're good as friends, you know?"

 

Rachel has to smile. "We are. I actually miss you barging into my office with some new problem - and half of those were because you don't have a degree, weren't they?"

 

"I'd have been lost without you, that's for sure," Mike tells her, grinning. "Which tells me what I would know anyway. You are going to be amazing, Stanford or Harvard or wherever, doesn't matter."

 

"Going to be?" She has to tease him, though she knows what he means and it makes her smile.

 

"Well, I mean, you already are. Obviously. But you'll be even more amazing, and then you'll kick everyone's asses."

 

"You're damn right I will."

 

~ ~ ~

 

A week before her flight to California, Rachel finishes her last day at Pearson Darby. She packs up her office slowly, surprised at how sad she is to be leaving. Things are settling down here now - Darby and his lackey Stephen Huntley are leaving soon, with Kathryn Fisch and a number of lower-level people left behind to represent the Brits. Jessica and Harvey have reached some kind of truce, and Rachel feels the less she knows about all that mess the better.

 

Her father's not thrilled that she's going all the way to California, but he's... She thinks he might finally be starting to believe in her anyway. She'll have a week to take a vacation in San Francisco, then she'll move into her new apartment and start classes at Stanford Law. And, it's occurred to her that, like here, going somewhere not her father's alma mater gives her a chance to make her own way.

 

"Need any help packing?" Rachel looks up to see Donna in the doorway and shakes her head.

 

"No, I'm just about done. Done for the day?"

 

"Yeah. We should go for drinks on Harvey's card. One last night for old times' sake, what do you say?"

 

"You've got two men to worry about - two men you call idiots on a regular basis. You really wanna hit the bar and flirt like old times?"

 

"Rachel, Rachel, Rachel. I make an excellent wingman, and even if I didn't, who said we need to flirt to have a good time?"

 

So that's exactly what they do. They go out and get ridiculous cocktails that taste awful half the time, and they tell the other people around them crazy stories about who they are. "I'm gonna come work for you when you graduate, especially if you get hired outside New York," Donna declares. "Get the hell away from the idiots."

 

Rachel snickers. "You'd miss them if you did that. And more importantly, they'd follow you and then I'd have to deal with them too."

 

"Well, there goes my perfect escape plan. You're supposed to be on my side here, Rach."

 

"They still won't talk to each other?"

 

Donna rolls her eyes. "No. And they're pining. Or, since it's Mike and Harvey, Harvey's brooding and pretending Mike doesn't exist, and Mike's denying everything. I may have to get clever about locking them in a small space if it continues. But enough about me. Any plans for torrid romance in California?"

 

Rachel laughs, almost choking on her drink. "No! I'm not going to Stanford for that, I'm going there to get my JD."

 

"Who said you can't do both?"

 

"This is true." Rachel grins, but suddenly finds there's a lump in her throat. "You know, I, I'm gonna miss you."

 

Donna's expression turns mock-stern. "Nope, no way, none of that, missy. You are about to leave for Stanford University, and there's nothing to be sad about." In spite of that, a minute later, moving surprisingly fast for how tipsy they both are, Donna has Rachel in a tight hug. "Stay in touch, remember. If not, I'll come out there to hunt you down."

 

"Well, that is a terrifying threat."

 

~ ~ ~

 

 

JFK Airport is always crowded, but for once Rachel doesn't notice at all. Her bags are checked in, aside from her carry-on, and she's wired enough that she actually gets decaf coffee. She told her parents not to come see her off, because if they did she would cry, but... There they are, of course. She can't say she's surprised, though.

 

"I said not to come," she protests anyway, even as she lets her mother pull her into a hug. Miranda Zane still wears the same perfume she always has, and for a moment Rachel feels five years old again, like she's curled up safe in her mother's lap.

 

But she's twenty-nine years old, so she draws back and firmly blinks away her tears.  "You know we couldn't do that," her father says, hugging her as well. She hugs him back, and it's still a little awkward after everything that's happened. But that's okay.

 

"I guess I did know that," Rachel agrees, shaking her head.

 

"At least you aren't going to Yale," her father jokes.

 

"Though it would have been closer," her mother adds. Rachel has to keep from rolling her eyes. It's just like both of them really. She doesn't bother to hide her grin, though.

 

"Stanford is better than Yale," she says. Which it is; Stanford Law is second only to Harvard. There's another pang at the thought of Harvard, but it's not as bad as it has been.

Her boarding call comes over the PA, and with one last hug from each parent, Rachel shoulders her carry-on bag and heads for the gate. It's not Harvard, but Stanford isn't anything to sneeze at. Besides, she still has a shot at transferring later. Either way, she's going to be a lawyer, she's going to get the bigger part of her dream, and that's what matters.


End file.
